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Lagos (AFP) – With its colorful hammocks and ping pong table, a new technology center in the metropolis of Lagos would be out of place among start-ups on the other side of the world. Silicon Valley. [19659002] But the NG_Hub office is located in the suburbs of Yaba – the heart of Nigeria's nascent tech scene that attracts the attention of global giants eager to tap into an emerging market of connected young Africans.
In May, Google and Facebook
This week, Nigeria's vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, was in California to court US tech investors for what he said could herald a "fourth industrial revolution." " in his country.
Last month, Google announced the opening of Africa's first artificial intelligence laboratory in Accra, the capital of Ghana
Demography is a key factor in this movement: Africa 's population is estimated at 1.2 billion, 60% of the d' here 2050, the UN estimates that the population will double to 2.4 billion.
"There is an opportunity for companies like Facebook and Google to really go ahead and put a foot in the sand," said Daniel Ives. Technology Researcher at GBH Insights in New York
"If you look at Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, where does much of this growth come from?" Facebook is up and running from the NG_Hub because it does not work. has not yet a permanent office in Nigeria.
The head of the public policy of the enterprise in Africa, Ebele Okobi, declared at the opening of the conference.
The social network s & # 39, is committed to training 50,000 people across the country to "give them the digital skills they need to succeed," she added.
In exchange, Facebook, which currently has about 26 million people, is the world's largest digital resource. users in Nigeria, gets more users and access to a mbadive market to test new products and strategies.
"We are invested in the ecosystem. Just the fact that they engage … that in itself is a goal, "she added.
– Cyber Colonialism –
Many African governments have welcomed with the tech titans enthusiasm., Osinbajo said the Nigerian government will "actively support" Google's "Next Billion Users" plan to "ensure better digital access to Nigeria and the world."
Few sectors in Africa arouse as much hope as technology. "
Ubenwa, a Nigerian start-up called" Shazam for babies ", after the app that identifies music and movies from snippets, is an example.
Ubenwa badyzes the crying of a baby using the AI to diagnose asphyxia at birth, a leading cause of death in Africa when babies do not get enough of a baby. oxygen and nutrients before, during or immediately after birth. 9659017] Detecting the problem early could save thousands of lives. Should Tewodros Abebe, PhD student in language technology at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, explain: "If we are not involved, no one can understand the existing problems on our continent." [19659024] Abebe dismissed fears that what Facebook and Google are doing is a form of so-called cyber-colonialism. "Working collaboratively, I think, is a good way to transfer technology to Africa," he said. "If they are only looking for business, it's colonization."
– & # 39; Epocalypse Now & # 39; –
As the African technology sector grows, fueled by the growth of mobile phone use, pressure on governments to protect its citizens Osinbajo told technology leaders that Nigeria was eager to create the good environment for development, including for regulation.
But the privacy debate is unobtrusive in many African countries, unlike Europe which has recently adopted new data
Facebook has also been at the center of a storm not to have protected users' data about allegations of manipulation during the 2016 US Presidential Election and the Brexit Referendum.
Global Justice Now, an anti-poverty group, fears that technology companies have every latitude to create a global surveillance state.
"We could find ourselves dozing off to a world in which a handful of technology companies are exercising monopolistic control over," said the militant group in a May 2018 report entitled "Epocalypse Now."
Renata Avila, of The World Wide Web Foundation in Geneva, Campaigning "The message is that Africa needs investments and that it needs to develop these industries, so it's usually a narrative pro-business, "said Avila, a
" But there is little surveillance, "she added, warning that without regulation, people were vulnerable to exploitation.
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